Belbin & Agosto Step Out to Early Lead
by Michelle Wojdyla

St. Louis

The reigning two-time U.S. champions finished first in the event with a score of 41.57. Behind them are Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov (SC of New York) with a total of 35.76. Morgan Matthews and Maxim Zavozin (SC of New York) are third with 34.03, while Jamie Silverstein and Ryan O’Meara (Arctic FSC/Coyotes SC of Arizona) fourth with 32.26.

“I think the polka is one of those dances that requires a lot of time,” Belbin said. “It’s difficult, especially being tall. It’s difficult to get that quickness and that sharpness down, and it’s just a matter of repetition. We could have had more ideal circumstances in preparation. We were obviously limited because of Ben’s injury, but I think we did the absolute best we could today.”

Agosto said that his groin pull is much improved.

“My injury is healing really well,” he said. “It’s almost completely gone. It’s a very long process to heal that kind of an injury, and I still feel it every now and then, but it’s doing great. I can do everything I need to do. It’s not holding me back.”

Of the 72 individual technical element scores, Belbin and Agosto only five were scored at base value. They received two +3s and the balance +2 and +1. Their components scores were as high as 9.0 for timing, and they received nothing lower than 8.0.

“It felt pretty good today,” Agosto said. “Of course, if we have to compete it again we’ll know what we need to work on.”

“We really like taking the ice at nationals every year,” Belbin added, “but this year in particular we feel like the fans have gone through something together with us, something very personal to us. The phone calls that they made and letters that they wrote were invaluable in the entire (citizenship) process, so we definitely feel a deeper connection with them, and it helps us every time we take the ice now to know that there are so many people on our side.”

Belbin was happy to not have to once again face media questions about skipping the Winter Olympic Games.

“It is certainly a relief not to have the discussion, at least to discuss it in the terms that we had to in the past,” she said. “It is nice to discuss it now that it is all over with, and I can say that I am finally an American citizen. It certainly is a cloud lifted off of our heads. We are glad that we can now be identified with other things besides the citizenship issue.”

“I think that we are very lucky that we put our focus on things beyond the Olympics,” Agosto said, “and the fact that we are eligible now to be on the team is such a bonus for us. It is really the icing on the cake. We are just really looking forward to be able to qualify for the team and to really go ahead and make the most of this experience.”

Gregory and Petukhov also received no negative grades of execution on their Yankee Polka routine, and their program components ranged from 6.75 to 7.75.

“We did much better compared to the rest of the season,” Petukhov said.

Gregory was pleased that their scores were much higher than during their Grand Prix events.

“It showed that we are still improving,” she said. “They would have kept it the same if we weren’t.”

Matthews and Zavozin performed in new Yankee Polka costumes, as this was the first time they had performed the dance. They received only four -1s, with the rest of the scores going as high as +2. Components ranged from 6.00 for skating skills to 7.50 for timing.

Zavozin stressed that the duo did not feel extra pressure now that they were eligible to compete in the Olympics after he received his citizenship Dec. 30.

“You can’t think about it,” Zavozin said, “and we’re not the only ones who have it. We are here to have fun competing.”

Silverstein and O’Meara had only two -1s in their technical elements, with components ranging from 5.50 to 7.25. Both skaters said they like performing the Yankee Polka.

“You either have fun or go nuts,” Silverstein laughed. “The polka’s fantastic. You can’t do it and not have a big smile on your face.”

Tuesday afternoon’s performance was a comfortable one for O’Meara.

“It felt calm,” he said. “Usually it’s such a frantic dance and it never settles down, but it felt very settled and calm and relaxing. It felt like we could do eight more patterns. It felt great.”

O’Meara didn’t dwell on trying to qualify for Torino next month.

“We just came here to do what we did at Skate America,” he said, “just skate our best and do what we’ve been practicing. Of course, everyone’s thinking about that third spot. Everyone wants it. It’s going to be a fight for it, which is good because no one wants it given to them.”

Fifth place went to the new team of Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre (Santa Rosa FSC/Philadelphia SC & HS). Loren Galler-Rabinowitz and David Mitchell (SC of Boston) were sixth. Galler-Rabinowitz and Mitchell were asked if it was more difficult to compete with three teams being Olympic eligible.

“It’s a competition just like it’s always been,” Mitchell said. “We’re out here trying to do our best, to beat as many people as we can.”

“I think part of the reason we skated together for so many years is our ability to work with each other and focus on each other and try to the best of our ability to block out what’s going on with other people,” Galler-Rabinowitz added. “We can only control our skating. We feel like we worked hard, and we’re excited to show our stuff and, hopefully, this will be a good week."

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